Behind the Scenes of Shanghai International Film Festival (Part 2) Mobile | Reporter | Shanghai International Film Festival
Many people are curious, do journalists have an innate advantage in watching movies at film festivals?
Unfortunately, journalists not only had to grab tickets, but also had to work until 4am due to their busy schedules, and reluctantly gave up desperately pressing their phones to get the tickets. Therefore, ticket inspectors often work in teams to jointly plan topics and share anxieties. Everyone generates power for love and fully invests in the pursuit of stars.
Why do you spell it that way? Because at the annual Shanghai International Film Festival, we are so close to the top of the cultural and entertainment industry pyramid - movies. We not only see big stars, but also the tears and smiles of the true leaders, producers, and directors of the film industry.
Journalist's experience in grabbing tickets
In the exhibition unit, if you want to watch your favorite film, journalists also need to prepare a guide and grab tickets in advance. Moreover, considering the heavy reporting tasks during the film festival, under the premise of prioritizing work, they often can only choose scenes that are close to the end or have no major events.
Excluding personal interests, priority should be given to the premiere and orientation sessions. In addition to being the first to see a new film and enjoying the atmosphere of creative communication, there is also a bit of work selfishness - if the content is good enough, you can immediately go out and find a caf é to write a movie review or side note at a meeting.
Due to the fact that every year we have to interview the ticket grabbing situation on the day of ticket issuance, everyone is already aware of the ticket grabbing secrets listed by the official and private sources, including the senior film arranger "Four Eyes Old Wang": suburban cinemas, remote seats, and the second floor of Da Guang Ming.
However, this year a veteran movie fan provided a noteworthy new perspective: due to the long-standing circulation of the secret script, everyone is rushing to grab corners, and the central seat may actually become a missed fish - which makes sense.
This year, the reporter clicked on the last row of the Great Bright Thousand People Hall in "Sweet Home" for the first time, watching Japanese director Saito Kuo attending the meeting across 25 rows. He zoomed his Huawei phone to the limit and could only capture a blurry outline. But as soon as he spoke, the entire cinema was filled with the smell of hormones. When the host arranged a group photo, he heard screams in the front row, and it turned out that Saito was turning around to take photos of the audience. Obviously, he also wants to leave a commemoration for his trip to the Shanghai Film Festival. As the audience was organizing their facial expressions, Saito Kuo had already finished filming quickly and casually stuffed his phone into his pocket.
Due to the world premiere of this movie at the Shanghai International Film Festival, Mr. Saito sat in the cinema and watched it with the audience. When the protagonist found out that his ex girlfriend had died, the male audience in front of the reporter suddenly sneezed and inexplicably poked everyone's laughter in the silent and terrifying atmosphere. It is interesting that during the post screening communication, Saito Gong also noticed the sneezing audience and named him the "MVP for the entire show today.".
A special sense of ceremony
Due to temporary interview conflicts or being "pigeoned", journalists have also encountered issues with ticket transfers. For example, I originally scheduled a friend to watch "If I don't let my boss notice this time cycle, it won't end." However, due to the time being at 6:30 pm, it's a bit awkward for many office workers. After being stood up by six people in a row, the last "pigeon bearer", out of a sense of responsibility, lost this ticket in a fan group.
When transferring tickets to the other party, the reporter stated that there was no need to charge a transfer fee, so she was called a "female bodhisattva" for the first time in her life. "If I Don't Let My Boss Pay Attention to This Time Cycle, It Cannot End" is a film that resonates with young office workers. During the live viewing, applause and laughter were constant, and the blessings sent by ticket collectors also have a tacit understanding among office workers: it's not about "promotion and salary increase", but "overtime and salary increase".
This wonderful atmosphere and special sense of ceremony can only be experienced at the film festival. Interviewing movie fans and audiences, their narratives are very exciting and visually appealing, and the journalist grabbing tickets and going to the cinema to experience the on-site atmosphere is also an irreplaceable part of the report.
The closing ceremony strictly controls the number of people, and written reporters are unable to go to the red carpet and ceremony site. At the closing ceremony, the Shanghai Grand Theatre set up a dedicated interview room. The written reporters watched the live broadcast together, and after the award ceremony, the winners walked from the channel to the interview room holding the Golden Earl trophy and certificate for an interview. When heavyweight awards such as Best Actor and Best Director were presented, the on-site reporters also gathered excitedly and nervously in front of the TV, as if watching the crucial goal of the World Cup. There were indeed several unexpected award results.
Please don't miss "Hello Mom"
The competition unit of the Golden Jubilee Awards has arranged for media to watch the 12 films, most of which are scheduled for three days from June 7th to 9th. From morning to evening, it is difficult for most journalists to watch all of them, especially on the 9th when they need to prepare for the opening news report. Choosing which nominated films to watch can only be a matter of luck.
Fortunately, we ultimately won the Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress award for this year's "658 Kilometers, Yoko's Journey", and we have all secured the release of "The Double Eggs" and "The Eighth Suspect.".
"658 kilometers, Yangzi's Journey" can be called a "highway funeral film", with innovative genres, topics, and artistic expressions. The story of "social anxiety" finding a way to ride home in the wilderness has many market oriented highlights, which can be understood why it can win so many awards.
The reporter had not seen a film by Rinko Kikuchi before. In this film, she appears to be playing without makeup, dressed very simply, but with very beautiful eyes.
The reporter also watched Yoji Yamada's "Hello Mom", which is the most memorable film of this year's film festival. It has no technical sentimentality, but it will touch the softest part of your heart, making you burst into tears involuntarily. If this film has the opportunity to be introduced to China in the future, please don't miss it.
The organizing committee invites guests to have boxed meals
For film journalists, the annual Shanghai International Film Festival is also the busiest time of the year. Almost every day from morning till night, I stay at the Silver Star Crown Hotel, the main venue of the film festival, and there are a few days when I have to rush early to the sub venues in Songjiang or Putuo.
The organizing committee of the film festival provided excellent services to the media. There is a dedicated news center on one floor, and after an interview, you can immediately rush in to write your article. Due to too many activities, the battery of the laptop is difficult to maintain all day work, and sometimes we have to grab the power strip under the seat. However, even if we forget to bring the charging cable, there are public laptops available on site.
In the first few days, the activity schedule was quite full, and the shared power bank near the news center was often in a borrowed state, sometimes requiring two floors to find it.
Journalists can also provide vouchers to collect boxed meals on fixed floors. The boxed meals are packed in cardboard boxes with the Shanghai International Film Festival logo printed on them, including both meat and vegetables. They are also sealed with cardboard with the festival logo printed on them. In terms of packaging, it may be even more exquisite than the boxed meals of many crew members. No matter what the taste is, it makes people feel warm and respected.
Due to the rush of interviews, journalists often miss the time to receive boxed meals or have no time to eat. On the desktop of the news center, you can see many packaging bags for fast food products such as bread and cookies.
A person who never forgets
The annual film festival is the time when Shanghai has the highest density of celebrities. If there are celebrities, there are inevitably fans. "Not Worth It" has the highest attendance rate among the nominees for the Golden Jue Awards competition unit due to the media conference starring Hu Ge. The film festival strictly controls the order inside the venue, sets up machines at the entrance of the press conference, and allows registered media to enter only after facial recognition authentication. In addition, there are large-sized security guards in suits and shoes guarding the entrance. Despite this, there were still fans with extraordinary abilities present at the scene. Hu Ge and his group took their seats, and the sound of the shutter kept clicking like a machine gun, more like a photojournalist than a photojournalist.
Compared to celebrities surrounded by agents, assistants, promoters, and security guards, real big shots like producers and directors are much easier. The interview room for the film "The Eighth Suspect", which won another Best Actor award this year, Da Peng, was arranged at both ends of the same floor. At one end of the celebrity actor, there are two large security guards guarding it. Just having a registered journalist's certificate is not enough, and they also need to promote and run out one by one to recognize and lead people. On the other end, there are not so many "levels" in the director's interview room, and the reporters are waiting at the door with tacit understanding.
Director Li Zijun looks like the movie star Ren Dahua from a distance. He, who is not fluent in Mandarin, has been worried that the reporter won't understand and even said "I'm sorry". In fact, Director Li's sharing is very thorough. He talked about his love for Jia Zhangke's movies and "The Steel Qin". Realistic movies like this don't seem to match his Hong Kong style, but they perfectly explain the documentary style of "The Eighth Suspect". At the end of the interview, it was already past 8 pm, and the director and reporters walked out of the interview room together, waiting for the actors to go to work together.
In years of interviews, we often hear the creators mention "sincerity". What is sincerity really like? Perhaps it's like Li Zijun openly expressing creative confusion and discussing the ins and outs with reporters, or like another impressive director, Chen Kexin.
Firstly, the reporter was shocked by Chen Kexin's exceptionally standard Mandarin with a "erhua" sound. Then, he even cried in front of hundreds of spectators during his master class, more than once! Finally, Chen Kexin dared to expose his technical shortcomings, candidly expressing his concern for the complex emotions of film critics, box office performance, and word-of-mouth. Compared to artists who only focus on themselves and don't care about what others say, he resonated deeply with the coders and nodded fiercely.
Colleagues strongly agree with this, and she confirms that during the interview with "Champion", she felt that Chen Kexin did not make formulaic statements, did not avoid difficulties, and said everything he knew without hesitation.
May every interviewee be like this!
